I can’t make myself wake up happy, as much as I have tried. Nor do I see it as a value worth pursuing. But despair, or sadness, doesn’t help anyone. In fact, it can be another form of self-absorption, the flip side of a savior complex—the failure complex. This is why it’s important to reclaim the discipline of lament. Lament in the Bible is not just an airing of grievances, pointing out what is sad and horrible in the world while the people in power insist all is well (although that is a part of it). It is a sign of radical hope in a God who is listening. It is people feeling close enough to
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